On Monday, a tweet was posted by user Scott Gustin chronicling a crowded movie theaters reaction to an iconic sequence from Avengers: Endgame. It's subsequently gone viral and it's not hard to see why. The audio of people cheering and just going nuts as Captain Americal lifted Thor's hammer and proceed to beat down Thanos, it echoes my own theatrical experience with the movie and the jubilation of the crowd I saw it with. It's a clip that reaffirms the value of the theatrical experience. Seeing a movie with a crowd and everyone becoming united in joy with what's transpiring on the screen, there's truly nothing like it.
Unfortunately, it's not an experience we can all replicate right now because of that whole health epidemic thing keeping us indoors. We need to keep following those self-isolation techniques for as long as possible to keep COVID-19 at bay, but someday, we will be able to return to movie theaters and get experiences like the opening night of Avengers: Endgame again. Until then, though, that viral Endgame clip got me thinking about my own favorite experiences with seeing a movie in a crowded theater. Ahead are six movies that delivered particularly memorable examples of the joys of seeing feature films theatrically.
The Avengers
Might as well get the two Disney-owned ones out of the way quickly, especially one that's a predecessor to the movie that helped inspire this post in the first place. While Endgame set the golden standard for joyous movie theater reactions, its 2012 predecessor still holds a special place in my heart in terms of how exciting this was to watch with a packed house. A Sunday afternoon screening so packed that me, my mother and brothers barely snagged seats, this crowd was totally on the wavelength of the Avengers. Each comedic line got a roaring reaction from the audience but that was nothing compared to the vibrant excitement that ensued once the climax rolled around. Seeing these heroes unite as one proved to be a marvelous (no pun intended) sight that spawned repeated instances of applause. But nothing, and I do mean nothing, could compare to the audience's reaction to the Hulk and Loki scene. I couldn't even make out the "puny God" line Hulk dishes right after bashing Loki, that's how loud the crowd's clapping, laughter, and cheering was. Each of the Avengers movies have their share of moments that get the crowd as excited as a hometown watching their football team win the Super Bowl but that first Avengers movie defined that artform.
Star Wars Marathon 2015
The day before Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuted in theaters everywhere, me and a friend partook in a theatrical marathon of all six Star Wars movies that started at 3:00 AM. Before we arrived for The Phantom Menace, I thought the time commitment for such an enterprise, if not the early start time, would mean only a minimal amount of patrons. I was wrong. The place was sold out and these audience members did not keep their responses to what was happening on-screen a secret. That made for a wonderful experience. The corniest moments of the prequels ("I don't like sand...") were met with endearing guffaws while the CGI alterations to the original trilogy (particularly Hayden Christensen's force ghost in Episode VI) were met with boo's. But the best part was seeing how well the original trilogy still works with a crowded audience. People forget how genuinely funny A New Hope is but you couldn't miss that fact in a room that met each of C-3PO's lines with hearty laughs. And those exciting moments like Han Solo coming back to save the day in the nick of time in A New Hope, well, the way the crowd cheered made it seem like I seeing these moments for the very first time!
Creed
I had been stoked to see Creed for months, so it was no wonder I'd be going to see the very first showing of Creed on its opening day. However, I still wasn't prepared for just how great of a movie Ryan Coogler would deliver here. Nor was I prepared for how much fun it'd be to see this movie with a crowd. Watching Creed in a sold-out auditorium is a prime reminder why inspirational sports movie are the quintessential crowdpleaser movie. Everybody in that room was so invested in the journey of Michael B. Jordan's Adonis Creed. We all swooned when he and Tessa Thompson's Bianca went on a date together. We all clenched our fists in anxiety when it seemed like Creed had hit rock bottom. And that unforgettable scene where Creed flat-out says that he has to fight to prove "I'm not a mistake" just had everybody absorbed with the screen. Shortly thereafter, when Creed stands back up to get back into the ring and those first few notes of the Rocky theme start playing, oh the excitement in the room was electric. It was like we were in the same room as Creed and Rocky, an encapsulation of the transportive quality of the best theatrical experiences.
Love, Simon
Love, Simon is an enjoyable movie, the kind of light-hearted rom-com that's tailor-made for group watching. When I saw the film theatrically, I got to see it with a jam-packed audience. I'll admit, just before the film started, that I was nervous how the crowd would respond. After all, this screening was taking place in a Cinemark located in Plano, Texas. This movie theater played Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas for multiple weeks. Was the type of audience that went to this theater going to embrace a rom-com with a gay lead? My mind reeled at the uncomfortable events that could transpire. Would there be booing, mean-spirited laughter or any other examples of them find of behavior that Love, Simon's very existence was taking a stand against? Within a few minutes, though, the audience's warm-hearted response to the on-screen gags made it apparent that the crowd was here hoping to embrace Love, Simon rather than protest. The best part of that experience? The ending, when Simon gets to kiss his romantic interest. Rather than this moment drawing out boo's like I had feared, the crowd applauded! I had entered Love, Simon dreading the crowds' response. Instead, I left that screening of Love, Simon just a touch more hopeful.
Clemency
Clemency is a 2019 drama hailing from director Chinonye Chukwu that provides an unflinching examination of two people, a prison warden (Alfre Woodard) and a death row inmate (Aldis Hodge), whose psyche's are heavily impacted by the latter characters' impending death sentence. It's not the kind of light-hearted fare that has heavily populated this list. However, that doesn't make it any less of a viable example of the virtues of seeing movies with a packed crowd. I got to watch Clemency at the North Texas Film Festival last September with a sizeable crowd and it was discernably obvious that we were all just captivated by the thoughtful & grim cinema playing out on-screen. The most unforgettable moment of this screening was once the brutal ending transpired and the credits began to roll. Nobody moved. Not a soul stirred in that auditorium. We were all so profoundly taken aback by everything we had just watched (Chukwu's masterful direction, Woodard and Hodge's equally superb performances, etc.) that we had to sit for a moment and absorb it all. Sometimes, theatrical moviegoing bonds a crowd through euphoria. Other times, in the case of Clemency, you all get united through the experience of watching something so exceedingly harrowing.
Knives Out
I don't inherently mind franchise titles or sequels but there is some unique value to seeing an original film like Knives Out, especially when everyone in the room has never seen it before. Everybody is coming to this experience on the same page. Nobody can enter the screening having read up on the source material or watching all the episodes of the TV show it's based on. Instead, as was the case at my advanced screening of Knives Out, you're all going in fresh-faced. It's a way audience members can be united even before the film starts rolling! Once Knives Out began, that lack of familiarity with what we were about to watch made Rian Johnson's mystery film such an incredible joy to watch. We were all getting to discover these vividly-realized characters for the first time while unearthing the assorted twists & turns in Johnson's script was as exciting of an experience as unwrapping Christmas presents as a child. That special sense of discovery added an extra dash of joy to how the audience at my Knives Out screening responded to the motion picture. It was the ideal way to watch such a delightful film!
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